It was always you
by PhoenixPixie14
Summary: Harry and Ginny break up after the end of the war. Neither of them are over each other, yet both are too stubborn to admit it. But is making each other jealous really the best way to get back together?
1. Chapter 1

Considering Harry has been in my life for nearly 18 years (did the Philosopher's Stone really come out 18 years ago?! Wow I feel old!) I can't believe this is my first ever piece of Harry Potter fanfic, but there you go! I've recently just reread all the books (just as amazing the 239807549th time around!) which I think explains the visit I had from a very sudden plot bunny that wouldn't leave me alone until I got it written down! I'm not JK Rowling, and I don't own Harry Potter despite wishing very hard that I did :( I'm just borrowing him to have a little bit of fun with, I'll give him back in one piece I promise!  
Hope you all enjoy this and like the idea – feedback is very much appreciated!

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Harry and Ginny had broken up.

It was a (relatively) amicable separation and there wasn't (much) shouting but that was that. Harry James Potter was once again the most eligible bachelor in the wizarding world.

Molly, whilst naturally devastated to have lost a potential son in law in Harry, had made it very clear that Harry was still very much part of the Weasley family and expected him to come to the family dinners she held every Friday night without fail. Harry (being ever so slightly scared of her) complied and attended every Friday and in time the awkwardness that there was between himself and Ginny evaporated and they became friends once more, only friends mind, but it was ok.

This particular Friday was a rather significant one. Ron and Hermione we going to announce their engagement, only Harry knew about their impeding nuptials having been the one to help Ron find a ring and was just as excited as the couple was about sharing the happy news. He had felt a little envious at first when Ron told him his intentions, however this feeling was soon overcome with happiness for his two very best friends.

They usually travelled to The Burrow together as a threesome from the ministry but Harry had to work late and catch up on paperwork and he only make it literally just in time before they all sat down to dinner. Slipping into his seat next between Charlie and Ron who was too wrapped up in Hermione to pay any attention to him. He lifted a hand up in greeting apologising for his lateness, sweeping a glance round the table. George was there with Angelina. They had become very close after Fred's death and while it had been very hard they had helped each other through it, ultimately ending up together, and Harry would have bet his last galleon that they would be the next couple to announce their engagement after Ron and Hermione. Percy was also there with his wife Audrey, Harry was always pleased to see Percy there more than any other Weasley because it reminded him that while the war had torn families apart, it had also brought them together and Percy was a fine example of that. Charlie was sat next to him with a very blonde waif like young woman on his other side who Harry knew as Elsbeth. He also knew that looks were very much deceptive with this young woman, who Charlie had met working on the dragon reserve in Romania, and whilst she looked very slight and frail this was very much not that case and she was very capable of seeing off a man who was twice her size (maybe even three times). Charlie and Elsbeth had moved back to England after a whirlwind romance and lived near Harry in London, both working for the ministry and had become very good friends of Harry's. Bill was there too and of course so was Fleur, fussing over their daughter. Victoire was approaching her fourth birthday now and was just as beautiful as her mother was – Molly was hoping for more grandchildren from them and the fact that Fleur had refused a glass of wine told Harry that she wouldn't be waiting much longer. Then his eye's caught Ginny's and his face dropped when he saw who was sat next to her

"Harry." Ginny said pressing her lips together and smiling half heatedly "I think you remember Dean Thomas?"

The room went silent, anticipating Harry's response. After a beat Harry put on his best forced smile

"Of course I do! How is it going Dean mate? Long-time no see!"

After that brief awkward pause the occupants of the room all breathed a silent sight of relief and Charlie slapped his arm on Harry's back and Elsbeth shot him a sympathetic look before Harry continued a very strained conversation with his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend. The rest of the dinner however continued in a very uneventful manner until the last scraps of desert had been finished when Ron cleared his throat and stood up from his chair between Harry and Hermione.

"Ok, right, well I'm glad everyone is here because well… Hermione and I are getting married… so yeah, all you women can start planning another wedding… I know that's what you all like to do…" The latter part of his sentence was drowned out by the sound of everyone in the room cheering and clapping in delight. Molly dropped her wine glass on the floor (leaving Arthur a pile of smashed glass to sort out) and ran to hug her youngest son and soon to be daughter in law

"Oh I'm so pleased!" She squeezed Hermione into a tight hug "You must bring your parent's over here very soon and we can start wedding planning, have you set a date yet?!"

Hermione, unable to speak being squashed up against her future mother in law shook her head and Molly sighed

"Well we'll have to think about it, a May wedding sounds good, and that gives us six months for planning which with the all of us together is more than enough time… now we need to think about invitations…"

Harry, suddenly very overwhelmed with all the wedding talk and not wanting to impede on what was definitely a family moment, stepped outside with the intention of apparating quietly home but was caught by Charlie and Elsbeth who by the looks of it had similar ideas.

"Come on Harry, we were planning on getting a drink at that muggle pub we like near ours, you look like you could use a drink too!"

Harry smiled gratefully at Charlie and his partner

"Too bloody right mate." Harry sighed "I'll meet you there" he added before disapparating and apparating mere moments later outside a traditional London pub joined almost instantly by Charlie and Elsbeth. Once inside and settled with drinks Harry let out a massive sigh

"I knew she'd move on eventually, I just didn't think she'd move on back to Dean-bloody-Thomas!"

Elsbeth who was sat to Harry's right, rubbed his arm soothingly

"You did really well in there you know, I think everyone in the room, myself included thought you were going to blow up! You behaved very graciously and I think everyone noted that."

"I don't feel very gracious." Harry mumbled in reply "I feel like punching Dean Thomas in his smug git face…" he added darkly

Charlie chuckled slightly

"I don't think that's quite the answer Harry mate, but I wouldn't stop you from finding out if it was…"

Elsbeth jokingly scowled at Charlie

"Violence is never the answer! What you need Harry is to find someone, to help _you_ move on, I mean Ginny clearly has…"

Harry sighed

"I guess you're right, but who on earth is going to want to go out with me?!"

Charlie choked on his drink

"You are joking right, who in their right mind wouldn't want to go out with Harry-bloody-Potter war hero extraordinaire?!"

Harry was about to quip back before he was interrupted

"I thought we'd find you three here," Harry looked up to see Ron and Hermione "you do know it's common courtesy to say bye before leaving an event don't you?" Hermione grumbled sitting down next to Harry

"I'm sorry, just had to get out there, you know?"

Hermione's face suddenly was a picture of realisation, slipping quickly into a look of concern

"Oh of course! How are you taking it?"

"Harry's fine," Elsbeth cut in, "we were just discussing how he ought to find himself a new girlfriend and move on!"

Hermione hummed slightly

"Do you want to move on though Harry? I've seen the way you still look at Ginny…"

"I don't have much of a choice now do I?!" Harry snapped, causing Ron and Charlie who were having a conversation of their own to jump slightly. He sighed and softened his voice "I mean look at her, she's clearly happy to be back with that smug git Dean Thomas…"

"I've seen the way she looks at you too." Hermione said softly "She clearly isn't over you either. I have a theory…"

"Now Hermione love, don't go meddling…" Ron was quick to pipe up

"Like you know anything about this kind of thing Ronald, go back to discussing the Quidditch league with Charlie!" She stopped and kissed Ron on the lips, almost apologetically "I love you!"

Ron narrowed his eyes and turned back to Charlie and Hermione continued her conversation with Harry and Elsbeth

"I think Ginny brought Dean Thomas to dinner tonight to make Harry jealous… She quite clearly isn't over him like I said, and by taking off at the earliest possible opportunity Harry you've show her that you are indeed jealous…"

"I left so I didn't impede on what was clearly family time!" Harry protested

"Oh please Harry, you know you're as much of a Weasley as Ron is…"

"But…" Harry tried to argue but he was shot down with a glare from Hermione "Ok then, what do you suggest I do?"

Elsbeth, who had been deep in thought smiled

"Why don't you do as I suggested, find someone else? I mean if it goes well it'll help you move on from Ginny and if it doesn't go well it'll make Ginny jealous at least, play her at her own game?"

Hermione grinned and clapped her hands together

"Yes! I know the perfect person too!" she nudged Ron's elbow "Ron! Don't you think Harry would be just perfect with Catarina from my office?!"

Ron who was very deep in conversation with his older brother looked very confused

"What? Last time I listened to you he wasn't over Ginny yet, why are you suddenly all over getting Harry involved with a witch from your office?!"

Hermione rolled her eyes and sighed

"Ginny brought Dean home to make Harry jealous, Harry is going to date Catarina to make Ginny jealous!"

"Love, I'm not sure messing about with the poor bloody woman's feelings is the best way to help…" Ron said hesitantly

"No! You're missing the point!" Elsbeth exclaimed, making everyone around the table jump slightly, "If it goes well between Harry and Catarina then that's fine and it'll help Harry move on from Ginny and if it doesn't go well, that's fine too because seeing Harry with someone else will make Ginny jealous!"

Ron sighed and looked at Charlie

"Are you following this?"

Charlie smiled at his youngest brother and drained the remainder of his drink

"You'll soon learn not to question women mate," he stood up "I'll get the next round of drinks in, are you coming Ron?"

Ron couldn't have moved any quicker, shooting up to join his brother, leaving Harry and the other two women talking about seeing Harry up with this Catarina woman.

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Hope you enjoyed!  
Emily xxx


	2. Chapter 2

Harry was nervous. He'd never really done the whole 'dating' thing before and yet here he was, outside the house of Catarina Morgan clutching a bouquet of flowers that Hermione had assured him that she liked. He had pressed the door bell and was only waiting a few moments before the door was opened and Harry met Catarina for the first time. She had short, dirty blonde hair that was tucked tidily behind her ears and a warm heart shaped face. Her eyes were an inviting deep brown colour that reminded Harry of melted chocolate and she had a really nice smile. Harry's eyes travelled from her face down to her body and she was wearing a velvety red dress that hugged her trim figure perfectly with black tights and moderately heeled black boots.

"You must be Harry!" she greeted him, excitedly "Come on in, I'll grab my coat and we can go out?"

Harry nodded and accepted her invitation in her hallway and once the door was closed behind him he handed her the flowers he was holding

"I hope they're ok, I don't really know a great deal about flowers…" Harry admitted looking at his feet

Catarina grinned

"Oh no, they're beautiful!" she smelt the flowers "They smell really good too! I'll just pop them in some water then grab my coat." she walked towards her kitchen, leaving Harry to look at the photos in the hallway. It made sense why Harry had never met her before, judging by the pictures he could see Catarina had attended Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and not Hogwarts. By the time she had returned Harry was examining a picture very closely of what appeared to be Catarina surrounded by similarly dressed young women stood on the grounds of a very elaborate looking building which Harry presumed was Beauxbatons.

"Ah that was my last day of school!" Catarina said from behind Harry, making him jump slightly. She giggled "Sorry I didn't mean to creep up on you!"

Harry smiled at her

"Don't worry about it – just be thankful I don't have my wand to hand though, fully trained auror over here!" he laughed before looking at the picture again "Why did you attend Beauxbatons if that's not too insensitive a question? You don't sound French."

Catarina laughed again

"No, you're right, I'm not French. I did grow up in France though. My father worked as an ambassador to the French ministry so I lived there until I was eighteen." She raised an eyebrow "Parlez-vous français Harry?"

Harry flushed from head to toe

"I err… well…"

Catarina laughed and grabbed her coat from the coat stand in the hall

"Come on Harry, I'll let you buy me a glass of wine!" She said opening the front door and stepping out "are we walking or apparating?"

"I thought we'd walk if that's ok? There's a really nice muggle Italian restaurant just round the corner that one of guys from the office recommended to me."

"Ohh, Italian is my favourite!" She replied, linking arms with him as they walked in the direction of the restaurant.

Once they had arrived at the restaurant, been seated, ordered and had drinks Catarina looked over at Harry and started laughing and shaking her head. Harry furrowed his eyebrows at her unusual behaviour

"I'm sorry," she laughed "I just can't believe I'm out with _Harry Potter,_ I've known your story since I was a little girl, and now you're sat over the table from me! It's so weird!"

As she took a deep breath to calm down, Harry raised his eyebrows, slightly amused

"I'm just a normal bloke really, I had a bad case of constantly being in the wrong place at the wrong time when I was younger but I promise, I'm just a normal guy now. I…"

"I wouldn't necessarily class being an auror as 'normal'." Catarina interrupted him "I bet that's really exciting!"

Harry shrugged

"It's just what I do, I bet working for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures is absolutely brilliant!"

Catarina smiled wistfully and took a sip of wine

"It has its moments! It's about as close as I'm ever going to get to my dream job anyway…"

Harry was about to ask her what that was but was interrupted by the arrival of their food. Once they'd settled back down he looked over at her again

"Go on, what's your dream job then?"

Catarina swallowed a mouthful of pasta

"Promise not to laugh…" Harry shook his head vehemently and urged her to continue. She took a deep breath and continued to speak "I'm absolutely fascinated by dragons, have been for as long as I could remember. I was absolutely gutted not to have been old enough to go to Hogwarts for the Twiwizard tournament, even more so when I found out one of the tasks was dragons!"

Harry grimaced slightly at the memory but moved on quickly

"One of my best mates and his girlfriend are Dragonologists, they used to work at the Romanian dragon sanctuary though they now both work for the Dragon Research and Restraint Bureau which I'm sure you're perfectly aware of." (Catarina nodded at this) "I could introduce you to them if you'd like? Maybe Charlie or Elsbeth would be able to advise you about her to pursue your dream?"

Catarina's eyes widened at this

"Really? You'd do that?!"

Harry smiled and nodded

"Yes of course I would, besides" he grinned "it's the perfect excuse to see you again…"

Catarina blushed from head to toe and smiled very shyly at Harry

"Oh you didn't need an excuse…"

Harry smiled and continued with him meal. The rest of the evening went pretty well, they talked through dinner into desert about everything. Catarina was fascinated by Harry's muggle upbringing, and Harry wanted to find out more about Beauxbatons. By the time the evening was and Harry had walked Catarina home they had a pretty good idea about each other and had arranged to meet the following day for lunch. After saying bye at her doorstep, Harry apparated immediately to Charlie and Elsbeth's knowing for a fact they would be firecalling him the minute he got home anyway to find out how it gone, so he thought he'd save them a job. After knocking on the door he wasn't in the least bit surprised to be greeted by Hermione who was clearly waiting for news. He's barely sat down when Hermione just about jumped on him

"So! How did it go?!" she asked excitedly

"Let the poor man catch his breath Hermione!" Ron gently scorned his fiancée, "Besides, he might think it's none of your business!"

Hermione scowled at Ron causing Charlie and Elsbeth to laugh before turning back to Harry with an expectant look on her face

"Well?" She asked again

Harry shrugged, not entirely sure how he was feeling having given it a lot of thought since he'd left Catarina

"She's really nice, really interesting, really funny… it's just…"

"She's not Ginny." Elsbeth finished for him knowingly

Harry sighed

"I really _really_ want to like her 'like that' and if I'd have met her before I realised I had feelings for Ginny she would have been absolutely _perfect._ She's beautiful, funny and so intelligent but you're right. She's not my Ginny." He paused for a moment deep in thought "Anyway, I'm seeing her tomorrow regardless, I'm taking her to the leaky cauldron for lunch. She's absolutely dying to meet you two" he said indicating to Charlie and Elsbeth "she's into dragons believe it or not. Her dream job is to work on a dragon reserve and thinks the job she has now is the closest she's ever going to get to it."

Elsbeth nodded and looked impressed

"I'd be happy to talk to her," She smiled "give her my contact and I'll meet up with her."

"I'm going to bring her to the burrow next Friday." He replied "If anything it'll be a good opportunity for her to meet you and it'll provide me with a decent distraction if Ginny decides to bring smug git Dean Thomas with her again…"

Hermione and Elsbeth looked at him sadly

"Why did you and Ginny break up Harry?" Charlie surprised everyone, including himself, by asking "It's just the two of you have always been incredibly vague about it."

Harry sighed

"Yeah, that's because it was my fault and I feel like a total prat about it now…"

Elsbeth raised her eyebrows

"Try me," she replied "I've been out with some totally prats in my time before I met Charlie."

Charlie smiled and leant over to kiss her, Ron cleared his throat not wanting to see his brother make out with his girlfriend. Charlie and Elsbeth straightened themselves up and indicated for Harry to continue

"I know how dangerous a job being an auror is, and I didn't want put Ginny in any danger, I also didn't want her to sit at home waiting for me and worrying about me whilst I was out on missions so I told her that I didn't feel the same way anymore… She cried and shouted at me a little and then we broke up and that was that…"

"And she believed you?!" Hermione asked incredulously, when Harry nodded she shook her head in disbelief "She's as bloody thick as you are!"

"Why don't you just tell her the truth?" Elsbeth asked, her eyebrows furrowed slightly

"And have her hate me more than she already does?!" Harry asked "No thanks! I think I'll just stick to second best…"

"Now Harry, that's really not fair!" Hermione snapped in defence of Catarina

"It might not be," Harry sighed "but it's the truth."


End file.
